Field of the Invention
The present invention provides for systems and methods relating to processing of a digital signal, including an audio signal, relating to a diver in a deep diving environment.
Description of the Related Art
Divers who operate in deep diving environments face numerous challenges and hazardous conditions inherent in the environment. Included among them are the risks associated with nitrogen narcosis, decompression sickness, oxygen toxicity, and equipment failure. Accordingly, many divers venturing into deep diving environments choose to do so equipped with some form of communication equipment facilitating communication with other divers and/or the surface to help mitigate the dangers associated with the activity. These divers may come to depend heavily on the reliability of their communications device both for routine diving operations and in the event of an emergency situation. Therefore, the audio quality is a chief concern for a diver, as garbled and distorted audio signals can have grave impact on a diver's ability to communicate in a deep diving environment.
Various aspects of diving in a deep diving environment complicate the use of traditional communication devices. For example, divers in a deep diving environment often use specially adapted gaseous mixtures, which affect transmission of sound waves in ways that ordinary communication devices accustomed for use in typical atmosphere or at sea level are rendered ineffective. Examples of gaseous mixtures a diver may be breathing include heliox, a gaseous mixture of helium and oxygen, trimix, a mixture of oxygen, helium and nitrogen, and various other potential mixtures depending on the conditions of the environment and/or skill of the diver. Furthermore, the gaseous mixture may not be at a standard atmospheric pressure. Because the gaseous mixture is a medium for the propagation of sounds produced by the diver, the composition of the gaseous mixture affects propagation of the sound waves therethrough. These differences in sound propagation accordingly affect the properties of the signal and the communications contained therein. It therefore follows that traditional signal processing methods and devices are unsuitable for operation in the deep diving environment.
Accordingly, what is needed in the art is a system and method for processing of audio signals relating to a diver in a deep diving environment. It would be further beneficial for such processing to take into account various aspects of the diver and/or the environment, including the particular gaseous mixture the diver is breathing. In addition, the benefits of processing the audio signal include yielding a clearer signal that can be more efficiently amplified, processed, and/or transmitted, which enhances the safety of the diver.